There are many forms of grips available on the market today for a wide variety of implements. These implements can range from hammer handles or other hand tools to sports implements like tennis, squash, or racquetball rackets, or golf clubs. While the present disclosure is particularly suited for a golf club shaft with a changeable grip and described with particular reference thereto, it should be immediately apparent that the present disclosure is not intended to be limited only to golf and extends to any sports grip or hand grip for a shock imparting implement.
Originally, golf club grips consisted primarily of a leather wrap around a handle. Later, molded rubber slip-on grips became available and are still in wide use today. A recent variation on the molded rubber grip is the concept of using a rubber sleeve or underlisting on the handle with a leather or synthetic leather wrap spirally wrapped around the underlisting, or alternatively a single panel cover over the underlisting. Grips are made today from a wide variety in construction and combinations of materials.
As the market demands a wider range of grips with different colors, weights, and sizes, producing a cost effective grip that meets a wide range of customer requirements is becoming very difficult. There still exists a need for an improved changeable grip that imparts or receives shock or force to or from a shock imparting implement. A changeable grip provides greater flexibility in selecting a specific grip for a given application or for use under a wide variety of conditions. It allows the user to select exactly the type of grip needed under the given conditions for the desired application. It is also desirable for the grip to be constructed in a manner that provides a firm grasp with little or no slippage and with good resistance to torque as well as exhibiting good shock absorbing qualities.
A changeable grip further allows for a wide variety of enhancing features to the grip such as designing the grip weight for swing weight control, or even still multiple types of gripping surfaces with interchangeable gripping sleeves of combinations of various materials. Swing weight control, handle stiffness, flex control, shock absorption are just some of the important factors in improving the impact from the implement. The concept of tailoring a grip to provide the user with multiple options minimizes the need for multiple grips and multiple implements.
Thus, it is desirable to have a changeable grip that allows the user to select the right fit and feel for the handle or shaft of a shock imparting implement or tool to meet the needs of the user in a given application.